Complaint Review: Beaman Lincoln Mercury

A brand new 1996 Mercury Marquis was purchased in January of 1996, full payment by check, no financing. The expensive subsequent maintenance and repairs that we have spent on this car have been outrageous! Not to mention my time, sitting in repair waiting rooms.

At about 20,000 plus miles we were told we needed and paid for all new brake pads and roters, per the bill. But, during a check up, about 20,000 plus miles later, the dealership wanted to do the same things to the brakes, all over again.

They also told me I needed new tires, front end alining, an oil/filter change (they said oil was dirty), as well as, another total brake job. I was also told that the transmission and coolant fluids needed to be flushed and changed. When in fact: the tires on the car were less than two months old and I had just had an oil/filter change and a complete flushing and replacement of all fluids-transmission-coolant and etc. I called my husband and politely declined anymore of their suggested service.

I took my car to PepBoys where my husband met us and my husband and the mechanic at PepBoys used a calibrator to measure the roters, checked the tires and fluids. The fluids and tires were fine but the brakes had a problem, the back roters had about 10,000 plus miles left on them. (Mind you, I was to have all new roters from the last visit to Beaman).

The two of them, my husband and the mechanic at PepBoys found, that two of the roters had never been changed and would have to be replaced with new ones, two others could be turned and would have 20-30,000 miles on them.

It was obvious that I had been ripped off at Beaman Lincoln Mercury on the prior brake job. When Beaman put my car back together, after I declined any additional service- about two weeks after I was there- my heater suddenly gave out and the car kept misfiring.

I subsequently took the car into Pep boys for this problem, too. Consequently, we had all the spark plugs, etc. replaced . When they were replacing these items, the mechanic at PepBoys found and showed me that "someone" had placed a piece of plastic between the one of the original spark plugs and its contact. The piece of plastic had caused an electrical arc that had burned the insulation off the connecting wires. I had to replace all.

I contacted both the General Manager and Service Manager at Beaman, as they were the only ones who had had the car, working under the hood for their "check up", prior to this problem appearing. When I intially contacted Beaman about the brake issue, they offered to reimbursem me, when I went there with a copy of the Pepboys bill, Beaman refused to reimburse me for the brtake job, as the General manager had orally promised by telephone. They were rude and insulting!

The Service Manager informed me that "he did not know what my problem was, but he had already made an adjustment in my bill for the Marquis for the brakes." I informed him that must have been another woman with the same problem, because they had never given me any consideration. The Service Manager accused me of being there complaining about this very issue, two weeks prior. It was not me!

I then went back to the General Manager. He told me I could write to Ford, but he was not going to give me any consideration regarding these issues. He told me I could complain as much as I wanted. He did not care. I then went home and contacted Ford Corporation by e-mail and then telephone. In speaking to a sympathetic Customer Service Rep., I was assured someone would get back with me. I gave them the VIN number and the sequence of events and the address of Beaman. Ford said they would call back -they never did! Ford Corp. would not return any subsequent calls that I made, trying to follow up on these issues.

I will never purchace a Ford product, again! I will never do business with any Beaman Dealership! And I have retold the facts of this sad story to anyone who ask the question, "what is the repair history of your Ford vehicle? I was thinking about a Marquis." (The Service Manager at Beaman acussed me of being hard on brakes at the same time he told me he had already adjusted my bill two weeks prior to that. I also know I am not hard on cars or brakes.

I drove a 1989 Chevy Blazer, purchased new, before getting the Marquis. The Blazer now has 196,000 miles on it, and to date, it has not had the number of repairs as the Marquis. The Chevy Blazer, with me driving averaged a brake pad job every 60,000 miles. It had one set of roters, being turned for 180,000 miles. The 1989 Blazer, now with 198,000 miles, even with all its age and wear and tear is mechanically, to this day, a better vehicle than the 1996 Marquis.

Today, 6-21-2003, I went to PepBoys with the Marquis, thinking I needed a water pump. Water pumps go out and I can live with that, but instead, I found out that the Intake Manifold was cracked. As I was standing there, contemplating my options, another customer with the same Mercury Marquis, 1997 version, told me he had just replaced his intake manifold. He told me that he had done some research and that our model of Marguis had a design flaw.

Ford used weak, inferior materials in our years and that the heat from the engine cracked it. He explained to me that in the newer cars they had placed a shield barrier to protect the Intake manifold from the heat, as well as using better materials. He thought that the car should be recalled and the intake manifold replaced in our models, for free. He was on vacation and he intended to go back to his dealer in St. Louis and "check it out". He ask me if there was any Ford Dealer in Nashville that I would suggest. I told him I had bad experiences with Beaman and did not know the others. He had repairs done at PepBoys in Nashville and headed back to St. Louis.

In General: We owners of the Mercury Marquis have decided that it is a piece of "CRAP" And I will never again trust "Motor Trend Magazine". They had made the Marquis to be "one of the cars to buy," about the time our car was purchased. Everyone with whom I have spoken, who owns this car, made about this time, is sorry they purchased it.

I am totally anti-Ford and anti-Beaman, as a result of this experience. I know there are a variety of possible solutions, but I have to get on with my life. I am mobility limited and legally handicapped and have other assorted health ailments, plus work fulltime, therefore, I have to select the battles I fight, reserving my strength. In this case, I have chosen my health over the stress of fighting Ford or Beaman over the Marquis. I keep having to put repair money into the Marquis. It is a bottomless pit. And I am not the only owner who feels this way.

I have been very pleased with Pepboys for the repair work they have done and once they do something it stays done, unlike Beaman. All my repair nightmares ceased when I stopped using Beaman Lincoln Mercury. The Pepboys brakes work lasts 3-5 times longer than the Beaman Dealership's brake work. The only problem I have now is the fact the Mercury Marguis is a plastic piece of desintergrating poorly engineered "crap". When I next buy a new car, it will not be a Ford and I will not reference "Motor Trend". "Motor Trend" is not credible, it is based on their suggestion that this car was purchased.

In speaking to both car owners and mechanics, I have been told that Toyota and Nissan are superior products to all Ford products. The Toyota and Nissan have the least costly repair bills. I might go with Chevy. But there will be no more Fords in my future.

Nancy
Brentwood, Tennessee
U.S.A.



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